Thursday, July 17, 2008

A Little Whimsy In The Garden

Our story opens in the maternity ward under the deck at Faire Garden General. Mister and Missus Bongo Congo are beyond excited, for her sand has broken. A little even splashed up onto her cheek. Mister looks a little worried, but she assures him that everything will be okay. Let's go back in time a bit to last year. Heathcliff Bongo Congo came to Tennessee from a colder clime. He was a wild and wooly fellow with bark like skin and a hole in his mouth for a future job working with water. He found a spot in the heaths and heathers that felt like home to him. The demure lady Catherine was from a hot, dry windy place and felt comfortable up in the knot garden among the thyme. She was happy, but felt something was missing in her life. She would daydream of having adventures with daring and romance. Chance would have it that these two would meet while working at their summer jobs picking berries in the food patch. They would both sneak the best looking fruit into their mouths while no one was looking. They caught sight of one another and laughed with embarrassment. But there was something else in that nervous laughter. Chemistry drew them to each other, it was undeniable.

They began traveling around, having found that they both shared the same interests, including mythology.

Finally she took him home to meet her parent, a hypertufa trough rimmed with colored marbles. Bongo Congo was terrified of not being accepted by the civilized pater/mater. The composition of our lady and planter included peat moss and perlite with the sand-cement mix that had formed Bongo Congo. How could he ever convince him/her that he was worthy of the most exquisite creature he had ever known?

He took her to meet his own family, the bowl made from leaf casting material, his brother, Itchy. She was shy and turned away, feeling out of place also. Bongo Congo and Itchy were a pair, the bowl made to catch the water that cascaded from the spout of BC's mouth. How could she come between them?

True love prevailed once again. They eloped and went to the rocky shore for their honeymoon. They had always been big fans of the movie "From Here To Eternity" with Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster.

More recently they participated in the midsummer night's festivities with the crowd of fairies that traveled here for that big event. That was a special night and the result surprised them both, for she learned that another was to join the family they had created together.

Serving as midwife, I helped Cathy do what nature had intended. The offspring is still wet behind the ears in this shot right after birth but smiling and happy about the whole thing. What a joy she will be to her doting parents.

She is seen here in the nursery with other new additions to the garden, cotinus leaves and an eight ball squash leaf casting. They all need to set and harden before they can venture out.

The happy family together here for their official portrait. It was rumored that People magazine had offered millions for the rights to this photo. But the Bongo Congos have no need for either riches or notoriety and wish to live a simple, natural life, sans paparazzi. We will honor that wish. May we introduce to you Whimsy Bongo Congo.

~~~

We wish to thank Nan Ondra at Gardening Gone Wild for this month's topic ofGarden Blogger Design Workshop, Whimsy in the garden. It was an honor for her to choose a topic named for our new little resident. Thanks, Nan.